Friends of Marple Memorial Park Task Days
The Friends hold regular task days in the park on the last Saturday of each month in the winter and the middle and last Saturday from March to November. Everyone is welcome to join in for as long or as short they wish during the specified times. Please note that children and young people under 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
If you are interested becoming a volunteer with us please get in touch and we will add you to our Task Day notifications.
We like to keep a record of what we get up and here are details of past task days.
Task Day 30 August 2008
For our August Task Day we weeded the ornamental flowerbeds once again - it's like a never ending battle at the moment! We also sanded down the new acorn and beechnut ground sculptures and gave them their first coat of decking oil to combat the weather.
We also rolled the new French Boules court in preparation for the fun tournament in the afternoon. See the Boules Court page for more information about this.
This month the Youth Offending Team joined us for the last time, as they now have new commitments every Saturday that will prevent them from attending in future. We would like to thank them for the help they have given us in the park during a good number of task days over the last eighteen months or so. We hope that they got something out of it too and it helped at least a little in their rehabilitation.
Task Day 26 July 2008
This month we tackled the fungus on the tree sculpture again. It's been frustrating us that it grew back so quickly so we attacked half of it with an anti-fungal wash and sanded down the other half to see see what is most effective. It certainly looked good again when we'd finished but how long will it last? We also tackled weeding behind the library and around the ornamental beds and paths. The Youth Offending Team were also out in force and helped to trim the hedges around the bowling green and also to weed the paths.
Next month we are planning something a little different - a French Boules tournament on the new court that has recently been completed. We haven't fixed a time for kick-off yet but will let everyone know a couple of weeks before the event.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Task Day 28 June 2008
A smaller team of volunteers concentrated on planting up the ornamental beds today with a full truck-load of begonias being added to the borders between the council offices and the war memorial. There's room for at least another truck-load too and a few volunteers who can make it will be returning to plant more on Wednesday 2nd July at 10am.
There was a good turnout from the Stockport Youth Offending Team and they helped out with a lot of weeding in the rose beds and around the library. There are a few of them visible in the background of the photos below but unfortunately we are not allowed to take pictures of them where they can be recognised. We thank them for their efforts all the same and hope they enjoyed the chocolate mini-rolls!
 |
 |
 |
 |
Task Day 31 May 2008
After jet-washing the Tree Sculpture last month the main task was to give it a much needed coat of decking oil, which was recommended by the sculptor due to its anti-fungal properties. It was a very satisfying task and looked brilliant after it too. In addition to this another team of volunteers cleared the large circular ornamental bed ready for summer planting and even managed to raise £44 for the park by selling off the old plants for a £1 a bag. Very resourceful! The day was finished off by tidying up the small bed featuring Oldknow's Shuttlestone.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Task Day 26 April 2008
Well spring is really here at last and the park was full of people enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. A good turn out of volunteers again ensured that lots of tasks were completed. These included planting of young willow trees in the boggy wildlife area near to the cinema, where the old canal arm used to be, edging of the main path through the park and weeding of the ornamental flowerbeds in front of the council offices.
We also set out to scrub the dirt and algae from the tree sculpture before re-oiling it but soon realised that scrubbing brushes alone were not going to be enough. Thankfully one of our regular volunteers, Steve, owns a jet washer and after fetching this the task became a lot easier, albeit much wetter too. The sculpture looked great when we'd finished and will receive several new coats of oil once it dries out.
In addition to all that, we fitted our new BBC Breathing Places plaque to the corner of the library and installed an insect study centre on one of the nature posts in the wildlife area alongside the canal. This is a special box with a solar powered light and lots of holes and compartments favoured by insects and a doorway that can be opened to observe the occupants. We're not sure how this will fare in the park but we can only hope that it will survive intact, in which case we may purchase more.
We were also joined by the Stockport Youth Offending Team, who did a great job of trimming the ivy from around the public toilets near to the library. All in all a very productive day!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Task Day 29 March 2008
The weather was surprisingly kind to us after the horrendous downpours yesterday and even attracted some new volunteers. It was great to see some new faces and they also enabled us to get lots done. Polyanthas were planted around the war memorial beds and twenty trays of native wildflowers were planted in the boggy area where the old canal arm used to be and along the edge of the woodland walk running parallel to the canal. Primulas were also planted down near the entrance to the park at lock 10.
In addition, the badly designed bat boxes that were replaced during the last task day were refitted as bird boxes after having new bases fitted and holes drilled. We also had a stall inside the library selling tickets to the special showing of the Railway Children at the end of April, and tickets for the raffle of Railway Children memorabilia.
As hoped, the daffodils were putting on a good show and the park is really starting to pick up after the drabness of winter.
 |
 |
 |
 |